Sunday, August 31, 2008

Very interesting article and it shows that we can win the game against the types of people. Please read and be smart...

AG Corbett Announces Arrest of Internet Predators from York County and West Virginia

HARRISBURG - Attorney General Tom Corbett has announced that agents from the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit have arrested a college student from Central Pennsylvania and a factory worker from West Virginia, both accused of using the Internet to send sexually explicit photos and webcam videos to what they believed were young girls. The "girls" were actually undercover agents from the Child Predator Unit.

"It is important for parents to discuss Internet safety with their children as part of their back-to-school preparations, now that many middle school and high school age children may be less supervised at home during after-school hours," Corbett said. "Online activity by Internet predators typically shifts to the late-afternoon and evening hours when children return to school, but predators are also now using cell phones and other portable devices to send text messages or instant messages to children any time of the day or night, from any location."

Corbett said that since January 2005, the Child Predator Unit has arrested 159 Internet predators from across Pennsylvania and several other states, including five arrests during the past week.

Corbett noted that predators are always drawn to locations that give them the greatest access to the largest number of potential victims, including Internet chat rooms; social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook; Internet message boards; video game sites; and even online classified ads on Craigslist.com. He added that Internet safety information for parents, children and teachers is available in the "Operation Safe Surf" section of the Attorney General's Web site and presentations are available free-of-charge to interested schools and community groups.

Michael Patrick Woodward

Corbett said that Woodward, using the screen names "galactic_wood" and "xman_woody," used an Internet chat room to approach an undercover agent from the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit who was using the online profile of a 14-year old girl.

According to the criminal complaint, Woodward sent the girl a nude webcam video of his exposed penis within minutes of his initial contact. Woodward also allegedly asked the girl if she had any other friends online who would be interested in viewing nude webcam videos, asking her, "you think they might want to see it," and, "is there any other friends I may show?"

Corbett said that over the next several weeks Woodward allegedly sent a total of 12 nude photos or webcam videos to three different undercover agents from the Child Predator Unit, all using the online profiles of young girls. In one case, Woodward allegedly asked a girl, "would you like to see how big my thing is," followed by the transmission of a video that compared the size of his penis to a drinking glass. After sending the video, Woodward allegedly instructed the girl to delete the file when she was finished viewing it.

Corbett said that Woodward was arrested at his home on Wednesday, August 27th, by agents from the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit, assisted by the Penn Township Police Department. Agents also executed a search warrant at Woodward's home, seizing two computers and digital storage devices which will be analyzed by the Attorney General's Computer Forensics Unit as part of an ongoing investigation.

Woodward is charged with twelve counts of unlawful contact with a minor (related to obscene or sexual performances) and one count of criminal use of a computer, all third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.

Woodward was held overnight at the York County Judicial Center and arraigned on criminal charges this morning. He was jailed in lieu of $75,000, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Sept. 5th before Hanover Magisterial District Judge James S. Miner.

Corbett said that Woodward will be prosecuted in York County by Deputy Attorney General Michael A. Sprow of the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit.

Corbett thanked the Penn Township Police Department for their cooperation and assistance with this investigation.

Randall J. Myers Jr.

Corbett said that Myers, using the screen name "rawgangsta," used an Internet chat room to approach an undercover agent from the Child Predator Unit who was using the online profile of a 13-year old girl.Corbett said that during their initial chat, Myers allegedly told the girl, "I got a girlfriend but I have a thing for younger girls," going on to ask her, "you have sex," and "you like older guys?" Myers also allegedly sent the girl a digital photo of his penis, asking her, "you let me put that inside you?"

According to the criminal complaint, Myers repeatedly discussed meeting the girl in the Pittsburgh area and graphically describing the sex acts he wished to engage in, telling her, "I would want to sex you if I seen you," and commenting, "let's just me and you run away to Taiwan or something where age doesn't matter."

Corbett said that Myers also allegedly instructed the girl to masturbate in order to "practice" for their meeting and asked the girl to send him nude pictures of herself - at one point offering to send her a webcam, "so I can see more of you."

According to the criminal complaint, Myers also made online contact with a second undercover agent from the Child Predator Unit. Myers allegedly sent the girl a nude photo of his penis and proposing that they meet for sex, commenting, "I like to look for girls and see how many I can sleep with."

Myers was arrested in East Liverpool, Ohio, on Wednesday, August 27th, as he was returning home from work. Myers waived extradition in Ohio and was returned to Pittsburgh for arraignment in Allegheny County Court. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled for a future date.

Deputies from the Hancock County Sherriff's Department executed a search warrant at Myers' home in West Virginia, assisting agents from the Child Predator Unit in the seizure of computers and digital storage devices. Those items were turned over to the Attorney General's Computer Forensics Unit for analysis as part of an ongoing investigation.

Myers is charged with seven counts of unlawful contact with a minor, first-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 fines. Myers is also charged with two counts of criminal use of a computer, both third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines.

Myers will be prosecuted in Allegheny County by Deputy Attorney General William Caye II of the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit.

Corbett thanked the Hancock County, West Virginia, Sheriff's Department and the East Liverpool, Ohio, Police Department for their cooperation and assistance with this investigation.

Internet Dangers

Corbett cautioned parents and children to be alert for adults who sexually proposition them, send them explicit photos or webcam videos or attempt to arrange meetings. Since the creation of the Child Predator Unit in January 2005, Corbett said that agents have arrested 159 Internet predators from Pennsylvania and several other states, including 44 arrests since the beginning of this year.

Corbett says the Attorney General's Office has been joined by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Parent-Teacher Association, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals to promote Internet safety education and to remind parents and teens across Pennsylvania to remain vigilant.

Corbett encouraged parents to discuss Internet safety with their children, including the danger of meeting strangers who approach them online. He also advised that parents ask their children to show them what they are doing online, setting ground rules for online communication to help use the Internet in a safe and responsible manner.

Suspected internet predators can be reported to the Attorney General's Office by calling the toll-free Child Predator Hotline, at 1-800-385-1044, or filing an online complaint.

Internet safety tips and other information for parents, children and teachers are available in the "Operation Safe Surf" and "Just for Kids" sections of the Attorney General's Web site.

"Operation Safe Surf" materials are provided free-of-charge to interested schools and community groups. Organizations interested in materials, speakers or presentations, contact the Attorney General's Education and Outreach Office at 1-800-525-7642 or via email at education@attorneygeneral.gov.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

February 2009 Conference Gathers Innovators and Users, Showcasing the Latest Breakthroughs, Leading Projects and Real World Technical Presentations

COLUMBIA, Md., Jun 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Open source innovator and SNORT(R) creator, Sourcefire, Inc. (Nasdaq:FIRE), a leader in Enterprise Threat Management, today announced the launch of the Best of Open Source Security (BOSS) Conference. Scheduled to run concurrently with Sourcefire's annual customer summit, the BOSS Conference will be held February 8-10, 2009 in Las Vegas. As the first IT security conference dedicated to promoting open source security technologies and the commercial products that embrace them, the BOSS Conference brings together passionate open source security advocates and innovative users, integrators and experts under the same roof to share ideas and experiences. "While open source projects regularly deliver some of the security industry's most innovative solutions, many also lack the marketing budgets and resources to reach the mass market, and many early adopters do not have the time to seek out the latest projects," said Martin Roesch, Creator of Snort and Founder and CTO of Sourcefire. "Based on the resounding successes of Snort and ClamAV, we at Sourcefire welcome the opportunity to give back to the community, providing innovative open source projects with the opportunity to interact with enterprise security practitioners, while also providing practitioners the chance to learn about today's innovative new open source projects. The BOSS Conference is the first industry event catering to the needs of the open source security community, which makes it really exciting to me."

Today, there are more than 4,000 open source security projects, and the BOSS Conference provides users with a unique forum for identifying and evaluating innovative new technologies to address their specific requirements. The conference, consisting of exhibits, keynotes and technical presentations, provides open source security users with the first-ever opportunity to identify and learn about many of today's leading solutions and emerging innovations in a single location. The conference includes a variety of educational tracks that will provide attendees with unique insights and tips for gaining the most out of their open source security investments.

For more information about attending, exhibiting or sponsoring the BOSS Conference, please visit the conference website at http://www.bossconference.com.

Call for Speakers:

The BOSS Conference & Sourcefire Users Summit will feature two independent tracks--an Open Source Security Track and a Sourcefire Solutions Track. Open source advocates, community members, experts and users are encouraged to submit abstracts for thought provoking presentations on topics including the latest innovations, tips for gaining increased value from open source security solutions and user success stories. Following is a description of each track:

The Open Source Security Track will feature presentations that embrace the use of open source security products. Presentations in this track should be technical in nature and should be intended to educate IT security professionals on how to select, implement and use open source security products.

The Sourcefire Solutions Track will feature presentations by Sourcefire and members of the Sourcefire community (e.g., partners, customers, analysts) that provide insight into Sourcefire commercial products. These presentations will include both technical and business topics, and are designed to educate Sourcefire customers and prospects on best practices for selecting, implementing and supporting Sourcefire solutions.

Deadline to submit the speaker application is July 15, 2008. Potential speakers are encouraged to visit: www.bossconference.com for more information.

About Sourcefire

Sourcefire, Inc. (Nasdaq:FIRE), Snort creator and open source innovator, is a world leader in Enterprise Threat Management (ETM) solutions. Sourcefire is transforming the way Global 2000 organizations and government agencies manage and minimize network security risks with its 3D Approach - Discover, Determine, Defend - to securing real networks. This ETM approach equips customers with an efficient and effective layered security defense - protecting network assets before, during and after an attack. Through the years, Sourcefire has been consistently recognized for its innovation and industry leadership by customers, media and industry analysts alike - with more than 40 awards and accolades. Today, the names Sourcefire and founder Martin Roesch have grown synonymous with innovation and network security intelligence. For more information about Sourcefire, please visit http://www.sourcefire.com.

SOURCEFIRE(R), SNORT(R), the Sourcefire logo, the Snort and Pig logo, SECURITY FOR THE REAL WORLD(TM), SOURCEFIRE DEFENSE CENTER(TM), SOURCEFIRE 3D(TM), RNA(TM), DAEMONLOGGER(TM), CLAMAV(TM), SOURCEFIRE SOLUTIONS NETWORK(TM), and certain other trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sourcefire, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Cyberattacks have been occurring when ever one country has an issue with another country. I have discussed it on pervious block postings.

CNN.com has a really good article on this matter as it relates to the Russian and Georgian conflict…

The next large-scale military or terrorist attack on the United States, if and when it happens, may not involve airplanes or bombs or even intruders breaching American borders.Cyberattackers shut down one Georgian government site and defaced another with images of Adolf Hitler.

Cyberattackers shut down one Georgian government site and defaced another with images of Adolf Hitler.

Instead, such an assault may be carried out in cyberspace by shadowy hackers half a world a way.

Bill to boost authority of security chiefs

The bill, to be introduced in September by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), would give chief information security officers more authority to define policies and test network defenses without working through their agencies' chief information officers, according to Nextgov.

Clearance reform gets a boost

new Bush administration directive could mitigate one of the sticking points that plague the federal government’s process for granting security clearances: reciprocity.

Agencies are often unwilling to accept clearances granted by other agencies, forcing career-changers — and their would-be managers — to wait out a process before they fully can move into a new job.

Executive Order 13467 mandates that other agencies accept background investigations and adjudications conducted by one agency. Once the process is in place, this order is expected to help reduce the backlog, freeing resources to focus on new clearances.

Although this is only one of numerous problems with the clearance process, the Bush administration has laid a foundation on which to begin the reforms, observers say.

Shaping reformsThe order creates two executive agents to resolve security investigation issues and set standards to apply governmentwide. It also establishes a council charged with ensuring the reforms move ahead.

“The new order finally clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the agencies involved in both the suitability and security clearance processes,” said Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia Subcommittee.

Some members of Congress say it’s a good next step toward reforms that senators, such as Akaka and George Voinovich (R-Ohio), the subcommittee’s ranking member, have pushed for several years.

“It is my hope that the new council, headed by the Office of Management and Budget, can work closely with clearance stakeholders to put new systems into place that will cut down on the redundancies and inefficiency that plague the current process,” Akaka said.